"News that's not known, or not known enough."
Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion. |
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Does A.P. stand for 'American Propaganda'? by Angry Annie Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK US and AP say Iranian reaction to nuke offer is unacceptable This is the A.P., a once-respectable, now rather tawdry news wire: The article's only description of the Iranian response comes from un-named "US officials", nobody who's not connected to US government is cited or quoted, and every paragraph in this article parrots the US position, painting Iran as the uncooperative party. This is basically a US press release, just credited to Associated Press. Angry Annie Despise us, please by Obese Ballerina Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK US revokes visas of Fulbright scholars from Palestine
Is US foreign policy designed to ensure that America is despised around the world, or is just the accidental outcome of everything Dick Cheney and Condi Rice do? Discuss among yourselves. Obese Ballerina  33,000 free passes through airport security by JR Mooneyham Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Democrats unrelenting in oversight of Bush administration It sure feels like lots of ONION joke articles are being plagiarized by other parties lately. This may be one of the funniest. Teenagers are NORMALLY full of angst and mental disturbances. At least I know I was, and virtually every other teen around me at the time. This article though acts like teen music preferences can be warning signs of various things. The gist seemed to be that any teen listening to anything other than religious hymns is likely getting into trouble. I guess the most surprising thing about the piece is that it was written in Australia rather than America. This article too seems like a good candidate for THE ONION. The private company responsible has not lost the contract, and has not been penalized. Any terrorists using one of the 33,000 lost IDs now enjoys free rein through US security indefinitely (or, until US officials can figure out what's happening). It says so in the article. Missing laptop with sensitive airport security data found
JR Mooneyham (www.jrmooneyham.com/) I'm not sure what your take is on this -- a lot of people, I think, would add this item to the worry list. I just find it amusing. It illuminates again just how we're being hornswaggled by the very existence of the Department of Homeland Security, an agency which provides no useful service and does so very expensively, very rudely, and very stupidly. I don't think American airport security or national security would be damaged even slightly if DHS was simply shut down. Helen & Harry
Truth is a target meant for extermination by Herb Ruhs, MD Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK As each new false story is elaborated it necessarily incorporates elements of previous false stories that have stuck in the public mind as elements of reality. Over time the fraction of actual reality that is retained in the public mind is diluted to the point of non-existence. Herb Ruhs, MD America's split personality on Iran by The Canadian Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK The US approach to Iran, of late, has been one I would characterize as a "split personality". On the one hand, I have been noting messages of acquiescence from the US Admin towards the Iranian nuclear issue. On the other hand, there is the continuation of economic and military threat (backed up by real assets in theatre). Israel's desire to have the US sanction a hit against Iran appears to have dissipated within the current US Administration. (Not that dissenting world opinion has ever stopped the Israelis from military action re. Osirak) This discourse of messages disseminating from the US is completely unlike the consistent messages communicated prior to the 2nd hit against Iraq. Based on what I have read, it is possible that this diversion of messages concerning its stance on the Iranian nuclear issue is due to:
I wonder, however, if this discourse of messages is a PsyOp designed to lull Iran/Syria into a false sense of security? TC I hope your time away is for pleasure, not work. Don't vacation in the Middle East. Cuba sounds nice. Helen & Harry
An almost depression by Pavel C. Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re Hard to do by Siskiyousis Yes, but WHO will do the breaking?It would have to be Congress. Anti-trust law should be expanded to include a "just too freaking big" provision. There will be calls to bail out GM and/or Ford if/when they go through the formality of actually declaring their insolvency and filing the bankruptcy paperwork. I think that would be wasted money because their management has proven itself incompetent, and their legacy structures -- the unions and retirement packages -- won't be sustainable with downsized companies. So it isn't just banks and brokerages that can destroy our economy. Really, any corporation that is far too big to be allowed to fail is no longer operating in the "free market". I think also that as the recession grows and becomes an almost depression, that there will be serious calls to socialize healthcare costs in the U.S. That is the number one way that U.S. business can lower their cost structures and return to profitability. Pavel C. Or else by Rebecca Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Military coup in Mauritania Support the troops, baby, or the troops will take over your government. Rebecca Jesus by Brick Pillow Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Church defies county citation, won't stop housing homeless How refreshing to see a Christian leader in the news who isn't an obvious abomination to everything Christ taught. Brick Pillow Hold your nose by bdf Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re With Obama, a little uncertainty by JR Mooneyham Over here, in reality, you don't vote for the best candidate you vote for the least worst candidate. If it's a three-way race, with first-past-the-post voting, you don't even get to vote for the least worst candidate, you get to vote for the least worst of the candidates that stand a reasonable chance of winning. Sorry, that's just how it works. You might believe in a three-way race that the independent candidate is the best of the bunch, but if you vote for him all you're doing is throwing your vote away and increasing the possibility that the really fucking evil candidate wins. Few of the alternatives to first-past-the-post are any better because all can be "gamed" to some extent. It would be different if we had a voting system that meets the Condorcet criteria, such as pair-wise comparison. Then your ballot could indicate that you really, really want Nader, but if you can't have him then you really want Gore, and there's no way on earth you'd accept Bush. But the problem is you need computers to tally that kind of vote and we do not have trustworthy computerized voting systems as it is. It could be done, but not under this maladministration. So hold your nose and vote for Obama. He might, if some extreme tinfoil-hat wearers are to be believed, be just as bad as McSame. But there's a chance that Obama isn't as bad as McSame, whilst it is 100% fucking guaranteed that McSame is as bad as McSame. bdf Stocking up by Sherri B. Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK 41 million credit and debit card numbers allegedly stolen by hacking retailers' wireless networks I put this article's exact title ["11 charged in connection with credit card fraud"] into yahoo and every link says something a bit different so take with a grain of salt. This is also A.P.
I can't remember now. Before heading into Iraq how many sets of sanctions did we give them before we "decided" to go forth into war? I'm trying to get some timing in place. Also I'm stocking supplies like you wouldn't believe. Coleman is now my best catalog friend. As well as BACKWOODS HOME magazine. Sherri B. I don't remember how many rounds of sanctions there were, just the general gist. Everything the US said at the time seemed fake to me, but I remember thinking it might all be an enormous bluff, because I hadn't yet concluded with 100% certainty that Bush and Cheney are out of their minds. This time around, of course, we all know better. Helen & Harry
As if by Wig Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Iraq's Kurdish regional president slams election bill as 'conspiracy' Real Iraqi reconciliation taking place? As if George Bush cares. Wig Is Obama better than McCain? by Prophet 451 Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re With Obama, a little uncertainty by JR Mooneyham Is he better than McCain? Really, that's the only question that matters now. Obama has never been as progressive as I would like and right now, I'm scratching my head over his campaign but the late Molly Ivins once said that in the primary, she voted to change the world but in the general, she voted for the lesser evil so really, the only thing that matters now is: Is he better than McCain? Prophet 451 Kindergarten economics by Gertrude Q. Wednesday, August 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Offshore drilling is NOT the answer to high gas prices at the pump Sigh, does this really need to be explained? Gertrude Q. |
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